Transport truck, van collide south of Cambridge

CAMBRIDGE — A man was transported to hospital via Ornge air ambulance with life-threatening injuries after the van he was driving collided head-on with a transport truck south of Cambridge Tuesday afternoon.

The collision occurred around 4:20 p.m. on Highway 24 between Waynco and Myers roads, OPP said.

Cambridge Fire platoon chief Al Young said the van driver required extrication from his vehicle with hydraulic tools before he was flown to hospital for treatment.

OPP Sergeant Kerry Schmidt said the driver of the van was in his 60s. The driver of the transport truck was not injured.

The transport truck was towing a refrigerated trailer filled with meat. It ran off of Highway 24 into a ditch. Schmidt said the truck stayed upright, but crews had to first drain one of its fuel tanks before slowly towing it out of the woods near the road.

"It's on its wheels but it's pretty deep down, in a ditch in some trees," Schmidt said. "They want to be able to pull the truck out in one shot without unloading it."

OPP traffic investigators and cleanup crews closed Highway 24 for more than five hours between Waynco and Myers roads.